Jonathon Swift
In Jonathan Swift's essay, "A Modest Proposal", Swift proposes that the poor should eat their own starving children during a great a famine in Ireland. What would draw Swift into writing to such lengths. When times get hard in Ireland, Swift states that the children would make great meals. The key factor to Swift's essay that the reader must see that Swift is not literally ordering the poor to cannibalize. Swift acknowledges the fact of the scarcity of food and empathizes with the struggling and famished souls of Ireland through the strange essay. Being of high society Britain, which at the time mothered Ireland, Swift utilizes his work to satirically place much of the blame on England itself. Through his brilliant stating of the fact that the children cost money as well as aid in the drought of food and necessities the reader can get an idea of the suffering on going in Ireland; this brings the reader to see that instead of keeping the children their parents should either eat them or sell them on an open market. By wasting the scarce food in Ireland, the people are killing themselves; thus the children can be consumed saving food and at the same time making food. It is interesting to see how well Swift conveys his view towards
Because of the indifferent tone which Swift imposes, he was very often thoroughly analyzed, as well as judged, for his motives for writing. "A Modest Proposal" proves noteworthy of being neither modest nor even proposable to any audience, no matter how rough the times may be. This indifferent tone towards the selling of children of which Swift writes has more of an impact than that of one in which the writer might actually be profoundly troubled over such a famine. The affect that is risen by Swift's employment of a mixture of sarcasm, irony, and cynicism into his tone is one of clearity. It is his lack of expectations towards a good outcome that exalts the tone of Swift's paper to a higher level. Swift knows that the depression and bleakness of the period will take time in getting better. To the poor it will seem like an eternity; thus, giving Swift a reason to write the way in which he does. Thoughout the work, Swift persistently relies upon the use of irony. It is quite apparent that no rational human being would bring themselves to eating the flesh of another, which also adds to the irony of the story. Another interesting point of reflection is the fact that although Swift has children of his own, his are grown and his wife can no longer bear any more. Because of this fact, it is clear that further analysis would show that this work is purely fictional and cannot be taken literally. Many people of the time actually did take Swift's recollections literally, which brought about much condemnation to Swift as a literary writer. Cynical readers of the time had come to expect such a voice from one like Swift. From the first sentence of the essay, Swift begins to fool the reader by applying the dreary atmosphere of starvation in Ireland. For example, Swift keenly routes to the beggars in the streets with there starving children close at hand. It must be brought to attention that Swift's piece shows much remorse for the poor especially the children of the poor, even though it doesn't state this quite so clearly. Swift does not feel t
Some common words found in the essay are:
Thoughout Swift, Ireland Swift, Modest Proposal, Jonathon Swift, Proposal Swift, starving children, modest proposal, Jonathan Swift's, ireland's food, ireland swift, reader swift, swift children, children poor, indifferent tone, scarcity food, brings reader,
Approximate Word count = 1380
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
